Little cracks in Audio

[Lord Tim]

Your setup is really complicated for any app to do any audio with, unfortunately. Video card sound is pretty terrible in general, USB headphones (especially wireless ones) are particularly susceptible to latency and crackles, and switching between them is going to cause you nothing but misery.

My biggest recommendation is to drop $100 or so on a cheap audio interface like a Focusrite Scarlett Solo or similar. You'll get MUCH lower latency and much better performance. It's sometimes down to that if you just want the damn thing to work without messing around.

But in lieu of that, in your Audio Recording and Playback devices, choose something appropriate in the Input devices (it's a little irrelevant unless you're recording live audio), and in your Output devices, choose the first VN279 device. This will at least send your audio to the monitor if that's what you're listening through. ONLY have ticks in those devices, none other.

In the Audio Timing Masters, choose whatever devices you had ticks in on the previous screen.  I'd probably recommend taking the tick out of 64 bit engine too, just to troubleshoot. Get everything else working first. 

Press Apply.

Then go to the Playback and Recording Settings options and see if you can choose WASAPI in there. Press OK and see what it does. If it works, great! You'll get lower latency with WASAPI Exclusive but you might run into problems with other apps using the driver. WASAPI Shared will work in that case.  If WASAPI isn't available, try WDM next.

If none of these things are working for you, my last option is to go against all recommendations and suggest ASIO4ALL. That's not a proper driver and in a lot of cases can cause issues with other devices that do use real drivers, but it can make WDM look like an ASIO driver (ASIO is the best choice of drivers on a professional sound interface), and might solve the issue for you. This is a last resort and the only thing preferable to resorting to MME. But try everything else first, it's not a great option.

I'd definitely also echo the comment above and say you should update Windows too - best to do it now before you get everything working and the update decides to reset everything on you. It's worth it from a security point of view if nothing else.

But my ultimate suggestion is to get an audio interface. That will solve every single problem in one go.

 

[Ælleden]

@User 905133
Yep I'm forcing updates off since 2017 because there was an issue with one of the updates that Microsoft made at this time.
After the update, I had all my displays going completelly black with no options to see anything I do.
I got really lucky at the time because I was still living with my dad and he had a backup bootup USB key that he made like 5 or 6 months prior, so we were able to do a full backup and then got an app to force Windows not to update ever again.

Now I don't live with him anymore since a long time and I don't have such an USB key so if I update I'll have plenty of Windows updates to do and everytime you try to do many updates at once, it always causes loads of issues in my experience, so I've been keeping it that way with my old 2017 Windows, which works perfectly so far for everything I use it for.

Long story short the issue was happening with me because I had an ASUS motherboard, when the update happened I wasn't the only one having this issue and it was then found that was due to some ASUS motherboards being poorly designed.
I will update to the latest version of Windows 10 when I change my motherboard (and definitelly not buy an ASUS one)

Maybe the issue is coming from that but as of now I'm unable to test it right now.

Edited August 8, 2022 by Ælleden

[Ælleden]

@Lord Tim Well I'm glad to hear that then because my Audio Interface should be arriving today, I bought an M-Audio M-Track solo.
Can't wait to install it and have all my audio problems disappear in one go ahah

[Lord Tim]

Ah, that's great! Well, definitely do NOT get ASIO4ALL in this case, make sure you put in the M-Audio ASIO drivers first, and choose that in all of the options I mentioned. That should sort it all out.

[Ælleden]

Ok thank you, will update you after!

[User 905133]

6 minutes ago, Ælleden said:

@User 905133
Yep I'm forcing updates off since 2017 . . . .

Long story short the issue was happening with me because of my ASUS motherboard, when the issue happened I wasn't the only one having this and it was then found the issue was due to some ASUS motherboards being poorly designed.

Maybe the issue is coming from that but as of now I'm unable to test it, will update this thread in a few years after I changed my mothermoard.

2 minutes ago, Ælleden said:

. . . my Audio Interface should be arriving today, I bought an M-Audio M-Track solo.
Can't wait to install it and have all my audio problems disappear in one go ahah

Thanks for the reply re: Windows Update.  I understand!  (I'll spare the details.)  I hope the new audio interface solves the issues.  

[John Vere]

Ok so looks like you bought an Audio interface, Good. You should also watch any videos they have on their website and follow installation instructions carefully. 

Edit after reading what is below this.. And regarding the USB mike that is for Podcasting. You need a proper mike with an XLR cable. 

USB mikes rarely work with any DAW. Millions of threads on that topic. 

Now here's my Video on setting up audio interfaces. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2pnDOC7HEk

 

Edited August 10, 2022 by Cactus Music

[Ælleden]

I received my Audio Interface but..
- it's not working.
- doesn't detect my new microphone.
- I can't register it because it says the ID is invalid..

Such a pleasure
I will keep you updated on that when supports responds

[57Gregy]

16 hours ago, Ælleden said:

doesn't detect my new microphone.

An audio interface won't 'detect' anything plugged into it; they will work or not. If it's some type of USB or Bluetooth mic that is plugged into the computer, it won't 'detect' that either. You should only use microphones that plug into the interface with 1/4 inch plugs or XLR plugs. When working with your recording program, all audio should go in and out of the interface. That is part of the simplicity of using an audio interface; one device, no complications.
I'm sorry you're having trouble registering your device. Did it come with a CD or DVD of utilities and drivers? Perhaps with a software mixer?
Or directions to log into their web site to download these things?

[Lord Tim]

^^ Yeah, absolutely this. If it's a USB-only mic, you're kind of back to square one because ASIO can only use one device (or more accurately one driver) at a time. The interface should be your only device, and you'd plug your mic into that using an XLR cable, like Greg said.

Cakewalk will only see what Windows can see, so like I said earlier, make sure you install the drivers for your interface first, then plug in it and let it detect in Windows. If Windows can't see it, Cakewalk won't either.  Once you know that's all working, you'll want to go into your audio preferences in Cakewalk and choose only that device, and change the driver model to ASIO. If you get that far and it's all connected and working for both Windows and Cakewalk, but you don't hear any sound, you may need to set the hardware outputs to your new interface, but we'll cross that bridge when you get there.

[Ælleden]

Hey, sorry for the late update, I kinda gave up on everything about this issue because the drivers of the interface make my PC crash (and actually ruined it now cause now my PC crashes even with the drivers uninstalled and with the interface unplugged, it probably messed up something internally idk what's going on, M-Audio is going deaf with my requests since the last 4 months.)

I will need to update my PC and change my system so that's why I didn't report feedback earlier, I'm stuck with MME and my default monitor speakers at the moment (yikes)

Will come back here when I get a new PC with drivers of the audio interface that work on it. (Will never buy anything from M-Audio ever again)

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Ælleden

[Ælleden]

Ok so here is an update about my problem.

I ignored this issue for a long time since I was suggested to get an audio interface to solve the issue but the one I had had a driver that literally killed my PC.
I eventually got forced to update my system. I'm now on the latest version of Windows 11, with my M-Audio M-Track Solo, the proper driver installed.
My project settings are in WASAPI Exclusive, I also tried WASAPI Shared but it doesn't solve anything.
At some point i thought it was maybe because my project was too heavy with a bunch of tests and tries stored inside, so I started  a brand new.
I'm forced to realize that I still have massive cracks in the audio after a few seconds of the project playing back what I made, there are only 3 tracks going on, each from Serum.
I don't understand why it's happening and it's literally impossible to work like that, I tried using Speakers or Headphones aswell, still have the cracks, I'm using 48000 MHz which seem to be the recommended setting for my driver.

Thank you

Aelleden

[Ælleden]

These are all the screenshots I can provide to show how my stuff is setup, let me know what else I can share.
Also on the last screenshot, I noticed that if I toggle ON or OFF the Audio Engine, it makes a crack sound every time, not sure that helps but at least it's easy to redo.

[John Vere]

Holy cow your running at like max buffers. Try using 256 ms buffer.  And it seems you are using ASIO which is defiantly what you use. That seems a good safe setting for any interface I've ever owned. I still have an old M Audio fast track pro that works just fine on W10. Even though they are more a Mac oriented company they still seem to have solid drivers for windows.   I guess you never watched my audio set up video. My playlist is in my signature.  

[57Gregy]

Is that Shure SM7B a USB mic and are you using that to record? I'm pretty sure that's what "enregistrement" means, right?

[Ælleden]

@John VereI did watch your tutorial on how to setup stuff, it was a very good video and I did all what you said.
Yes I'm using ASIO in cakewalk as it's what seems to be working the best, and using the latest specific ASIO drivers for my product.
I was using 256 at the beginning and had the same issue, so i tried higher buffers to see if it would change anything, it didn't I reverted back to 256 after the screenshot.
@57Gregy Yes Shure SM7B for recording audio, going through M-Audio M-track solo and outputting to both BeyerDynamics DT700 Pro X and IK Multimedia iLoud Micro monitors.
I'm aware this is not the best speakers for music producing but it seemed like a good compromise between space and sound quality.
Also I notice more cracks from listening to the Speakers than when listening through the Headphones.
 

[John Vere]

Ok huge progress and it seems you have all correct equipment now as well as your settings seem fine as well.  Only weird thing I see is I was to understand there is no such thing as 32 bit audio interfaces yet?  They are normally 24. But I guess this is new. 
I assume you still are using the same computer so possibly something in the USB bus is creating this crackle. Bad cable, or ports.
I had to install a PCIe USB 3 card in my old computer to use my Motu interface and I do believe it was cracking as well. So big possibly especially if that interface is bus powered. 

Edited February 27, 2023 by John Vere

[Ælleden]

@John VereMmh, the inferface is powered by USB which is plugged into an USB Hub (self powered) maybe issue could come from that, I haven't tried plugging it directly on the motherboard since new setup cause the cable is too short lol.

No the PC is almost new I changed the motherboard and the CPU, I believe 32 bit audio is new cause it was default thing when I got these things, I tried to go to 24 watching some tutorials but everytime it returns to 32bit in Windows.

Cables are almost new for all my equipement, nothing is older than 7 months or even more recent for the speakers and headphones.

I can't check now if the HUB is plugged on USB 2.0 or 3.0, I'll try later and see if that makes a diff aswell.

Also I noticed that using one specific sound design seemed to cause WAYYYYYYY more crackling in audio than other sounds I'm making, so maybe Serum is not helping, maybe I'm doing something wrong somewhere in the sound design aswell.

[John Vere]

A test of that would be to export the project as aMidi file.  
First go to preferences Midi and uncheck all midi outputs.  

Open the Midi file Don’t import. Open. 
That will give you a clean project with Just midi and the TTS-1. 
See if there’s any issues. Now midi track by midi track swap out the TTS-1 for the VST’ instruments you were using one by one. 
See at which point you get crackles.  
If all is still good Then start adding any VST effects and see what happens. 

 I think using a USB hub is not recommended by most manufacturers. It says that in my Focusrite manual. It could well be the problem but seems strange you had same issues with old system too. Might just be aVST all along. 

Edited February 27, 2023 by John Vere

[Lord Tim]

Yeah, definitely don't plug in your interface to a USB hub - connect that right to your machine.